Holocaust: Non-Jewish
VictimsNewsletter: Volume 1, Issue 1 F

Five Million Often
Forgotten

The
Holocaust is usually taught as the mass genocide of almost six million Jews in
Europe during World War II. But, more than five million others were also persecuted,
tortured, tattooed and killed. These five million included innocent citizens -
men women and children. The survivors and the families of these five million often
feel left out -- overshadowed by the Jewish casualties. Nonetheless, these people
need to be recognized and memorialized. Many of these died for their race or their
beliefs. Many of these died while helping their Jewish neighbors. They too deserve
their place in history.

"All
Polish people will disappear from the world….It is essential that the great German
people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles." H. Himmler

Hitler's
first target was Poland, an agricultural country with little military power and
Germany's closest neighbor to the east. Hitler invaded Poland from three directions
on September 1, 1939. In just over one month, Poland was forced to surrender --
unable to defend itself against the powerful German prowess. Hitler saw Poland
as a rich agricultural land populated mostly by modest but strong and healthy
farmers. Hitler quickly took control of Poland by specifically wiping the Polish
leading class -- the Intelligentsia.

During the next few years, millions of other Polish citizens were rounded up and
placed in slave labor for German farmers and factories or taken to concentration
camps where many were starved and worked to death or used for scientific experiments.
The Jews in Poland were forced inside ghettos, but the non-Jews were made prisoners
inside their own country. No one was allowed to leave the country. The Germans
took over the ranches, farms and factories. Most healthy citizens were forced
into slave labor. Polish men were drafted into the German army. Blond children
were "Germanized" and trained from an early age to be Nazi supporters - many taken
from their parents to be raised by German families.

Of
the 11 million people killed during the Holocaust, six million were Polish citizens.
Three million were Polish Jews and another three million were Polish Catholics.

Hitler - the Ultimate
Racist

Adolf
Hitler came to power in 1933 when Germany was experiencing severe economic hardship.
Hitler promised the Germans that he would bring them prosperity and power. Hitler
had a vision of a Master Race of Aryans that would control Europe. He used powerful
propaganda techniques to convince not only the German people, but countless others,
that if they eliminated the people who stood in their way and the degenerates
and racially inferior, they - "the great Germans" would prosper.

Prior
to World War I, there were very few dark-skinned people of African descent in
Germany. But, during World War I, black African soldiers were brought in by the
French during the Allied occupation. Most of the Germans, who were very race conscious,
despised the dark-skinned "invasion". Some of these black soldiers married white
German women that bore children referred to as "Rhineland Bastards" or the "Black
Disgrace". In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that he would eliminate all the children
born of African-German descent because he considered them an "insult" to the German
nation. "The mulatto children came about through rape or the white mother was
a whore," Hitler wrote. "In both cases, there is not the slightest moral duty
regarding these offspring of a foreign race." The Nazis set up a secret group,
Commission Number 3, to organize the sterilization of these offspring to keep
intact the purity of the Aryan race. In 1937, all local authorities in Germany
were to submit a list of all the children of African descent. Then, these children
were taken from their homes or schools without parental permission and put before
the commission. Once a child was decided to be of black descent, the child was
taken immediately to a hospital and sterilized. About 400 children were medically
sterilized -- many times without their parents' knowledge.

Every country, even Germany, had those who did not believe in the
Nazi ideology and who were willing to die for their beliefs. Perhaps no other
group stood so firmly in their beliefs as the Jehovah Witnesses. Hitler felt very
threatened by this strong group of Christians because they, from the very beginning,
refused to recognize any God other than Jehovah. When asked to sign documents
of loyalty to the Nazi ideology, they refused. Jehovah Witnesses were forced to
wear purple armbands and thousands were imprisoned as "dangerous" traitors because
they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich.

Like
the Jews, the Rom Gypsies were chosen for total annihilation just because of their
race. Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as
a race that he believed needed to be completely annihilated. The Rom Gypsies also
were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. Both groups were
denied certain privileges in many European countries. The Nazis believed that
both the Jews and Gypsies were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore
worthless. Like the Jews, the Gypsies were also moved into special areas set up
by the Nazis. Half a million Gypsies, almost the entire Eastern European Gypsy
population, was wiped out during the Holocaust.

The Nazis decided
that it was a waste of time and money to support the handicapped. During Hitler's
"cleansing program", thousands of people with various disabilities were deemed
useless and simply put to death like dogs and cats.

Because
Hitler's plan for a great Master Race had no room for any homosexuals, many males
from all nations, including Germany, were persecuted, tortured and executed. Hitler
even searched his own men and found suspected homosexuals that were sent to concentration
camps wearing their S.S. uniforms and medals. Homosexual inmates were forced to
wear pink triangles on their clothes so they could be easily recognized and further
humiliated inside the camps. Between 5,000 to 15,000 homosexuals died in concentration
camps during the Holocaust.

Priests and Christian Leaders Killed For Their Religious
Beliefs

Hitler wanted not only to conquer all of Europe, but he also wanted
to create a new religion and to replace Jesus Christ as a person to be worshipped.
Hitler expected his followers to worship the Nazi ideology. Since Catholic priests
and Christian pastors were often influential leaders in their community, they
were targeted by the Nazis. Thousands of priests and pastors were forced into
concentration camps. A special barracks was set up at Dachau, the camp near Munich,
Germany, for clergymen. A few survived; some were executed, but most were allowed
to die slowly of starvation or disease.

Those That Resisted:
Men and Women of Courage
from All Nations

Every
European nation had its brave resisters. Poland's underground army - made up of
children, teens, and civilian men and women - was responsible for defending the
lives of thousand of its Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. Many were killed for
their acts of courage against the Nazis. In Germany, most citizens supported Hitler's
plan to control Europe. But, even in this dominated country, there were people
who died because they refused to go along with Hitler's plan.